Bruges
Sometimes it seems a bit silly going back, it's 31/2 weeks since we were in Bruges but I'm going to tell you about it anyway and then Leeds and then London and will hopefully have caught up in the next couple of days. The weather is so wet, grey and cold that I'm feeling disinclined to do much of anything except light the fire and read.
We got back to London on Friday and on the next Tuesday we were off on another train journey. This time we were on the Eurostar going through the 'chunnel' direct to Brussels where we'd change onto a local train to go the Bruges - 4 hours to Brussels and then 1 hour to Bruges. Very quick and very smooth.
We seemed to take ages going under the English Channel and I confess that I became a little nervous because it was taking far too long (in my mind anyway) and because it's impossible to see out of the window sometimes I felt like the train wasn't moving at all. Eventually, though, we emerged into daylight and zoomed through the French countryside once again, arriving in Brussels at the exact time that we were scheduled to.
My overriding impression on Bruges is 'quaint' - narrow, cobblestoned streets, small canals, small spaces and bad coffee. 3 days is probably enough.
This is proving to be a drawn out piece of writing and some more time has passed.
I'd hoped to have watched 'In Bruges' again so I can answer the questions re real life Bruges and the movie version. Alas, I haven't watched it yet, have been doing a lot of socialising instead, so I can't compare but I will watch the movie one of these cold, grey rainy days.
The blasted cough returned to my body while we were in Bruges which unfortunately depleted my energy levels a lot which meant I wasn't out there doing energetic stuff.
Did the tourist bus ride and the tourist canal boat ride. Interestingly, the only boats allowed on the canals in Bruges are the tourist boats, unlike Venice and Amsterdam, where all kinds of boats are on the canals.
Bruges sustained no damage during the wars therefore lots of the the buildings have been standing for a very long time, well, in comparison to where I live. Many have dates in the 1600's on them although some were older than that.
Barry went up the 'Belfry of Bruges', all 366 steps and most of its 83 meters. I was in bed in our hotel when he did this - from what I remember of what he told me - it was really worth doing, the view over the town and countryside was wonderful and the market was in full swing in the town square. Well worth a look too, he said although by the time I got there most of it had been packed up for the day. The belfry stands on one side of the square and began life in the mid 1200s. It has a carillon which was played a few times every day, the sound was really beautiful and gave the town a kind of village feel to it.
The Belfry
the view
the market in the square
some of the bells
part of the market at street level
We went to the 'Basilica of the Holy Blood' - it's what one does when in Bruges, apparently, so we did too. Some of the Christian religious 'stuff' to be seen is pretty amazing, as in "really!" The Basilica of the Holy Blood is on one side of the town square opposite the belfry and, amongst the statues, paintings etc that are always in these places is a piece of cloth displayed in a small rock crystal cylinder and on this piece of cloth is some blood from Jesus Christ, apparently. The cylinder sits on a raised platform, on one side of the church, with steps on either end, and is watched over by a church dignitary. People go up the steps on the right hand side, stop in front of the cylinder, bow, pray etc etc and then go down the steps on the other side. All the while watched over by the dignitary. This person, at the time that we were there, was a lady in priestly kind of robes, not sure what her title would be. And, Yes! We did go up the steps to have a look - couldn't not, really because if I hadn't gone up for a look then I would have always wondered what I would have seen if I did go. So, to save myself from having that in my life I went and had a look. Barry went first while I sat and watched and then up I went and what did I see - a piece of white cloth with pink stain on it, possibly blood, possibly something else - who am I to judge mmmmmm.
So that was the 'Holy Blood'. It doesn't cost anything to go into the Basilica however a donation is expected to be put into the box beside the cylinder.
There is a small museum in the same building, have to pay to enter this bit, that we wandered into but I only stayed there for a couple of minutes because I suddenly felt that I'd simply had enough of Christian religious paintings, statues and paraphernalia. So I went out into the square and left Barry to look at the stuff.
the little building in the corner is the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Blood
No photos allowed inside the basilica so that was it.
We also went to The Friet Museum which is about potatoes and chips. Friet is Belgium for hot chips or fries as some people call them. As funny as it sounds, it was actually a very interesting museum and the entry fee also includes a discount for a serving of hot chips from the cafe in the basement. I can tell you that there was a hell-of-a-pile of chips to a serving. Our eyes almost fell out of our heads when we got ours but we set to and cleaned our plates. Delicious!
This little museum has a lot of information re the humble spud and how it has traveled across the world to become entrenched as a food in most countries, how it is grown, all the different varieties and a whole lot more, it is well worth a visit, that's for sure. Hot chips from the chip cart in the square is a thing in Bruges.
No photos onside the Friet Museum, either, except at this spot ..
... and this one - remember these, Emma?
The museum is in a couple of joined together houses opened up to make one building and so the exhibitions are in lots of small rooms, across two houses, each one on a different aspect of 'the spud' and on the top floor there is an excellent exhibition with photos and videos on cooking food during WW1 in the trenches of Flanders, we both found it hugely interesting and almost unbelievable at how the soldiers managed to cook in such atrocious conditions.
Flanders is near Bruges and is apparently an easy train or bus trip to get there and then onto where the trenches were. There are tours and memorials, exhibitions and memorabilia of the trench warfare and preserved trenches. If I had been feeling more energetic we would have taken a trip there but as things were for me, we didn't get there. Would have been more interesting and relevant to us then the Holy Blood, I think.
I'm just going to put up some more photos instead if writing more -
the old hospital
shops dedicated to selling lace abound
a lace maker, absolutely fascinating - she moved the bobbins so fast they were a blur and made an interesting clacking sound as they moved against each other. I stood and peered at her working for ages, some times very close to her as I tried to work out exactly hoe it all worked.
These guys were having a very relaxed game of petanque, so relaxed that they didn't bend over to pick up their boules. They had magnetised thingys on the end of string which did away with the need to bemd over. No over doing things here!
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